South Africa
Charlotte Maxeke patients relocated to neighbouring facilities─── 11:48 Sat, 17 Apr 2021
The Gauteng health department said details about the relocation of patients who have been evacuated from the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital would be revealed in due course.
The department in collaboration with emergency services has been evacuating patients at the hospital following an all-night raging fire.
The fire broke out on Friday after a storeroom for medical supplies caught fire at around 11:30 in the morning but was contained by the afternoon.
Sixty emergency services personnel are on-site dousing the blaze that was reignited on Friday night.
Firefighters have been battling the fire externally after a level 3 parking area above the dispensary caved in.
No casualties or injuries have so far been reported and the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana said, “We began evacuating patients early evening yesterday. At some point in the afternoon, we evacuated patients in the hospital from one ward to another, and then we took a decision to then evacuate patients out of the hospital to our sister hospitals around the province. That operation is still underway, we are still evacuating more patients out of the hospital.”
Kekana said details about the number of patients that have so far been moved to neighbouring hospitals would be confirmed later on Saturday.
At the same time, Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the MECs for Health and Infrastructure, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi and Tasneem Motara, arrived at the hospital on Saturday morning to inspect the damage to the facility following the blaze.
